


Perhaps things could have been different

by MoonTearChild



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: After the games AU, Angst, Gen, M/M, Moving On, Post-Break Up, Retrospective, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:42:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29525208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonTearChild/pseuds/MoonTearChild
Summary: After it all, he finds himself in familiar places.
Relationships: Crypto | Park Tae Joon/Mirage | Elliott Witt, Mirage/unnamed character
Comments: 5
Kudos: 27





	Perhaps things could have been different

It was a busy day out, and despite the almost sweltering heat, he still couldn't shake the shiver that ran over his spine, pulling his jacket closer over him, arms folded. He hated that feeling, the one that even after all these years seemed to linger like an unpleasant taste on his tongue - he never could give up the habit, checking once, twice over his shoulder, curling up into himself whenever eyes lingered. An echo of his own voice, a past self so shrouded in misery rings through his mind, always there to remind him ' _ prepared, not paranoid. _ ' and he can’t help but snarl. 

These days, he was on a different kind of mission. 

Retracing once familiar steps, he finds himself somewhere less crowded, and his stomach turns from the memories. He takes a second to steady himself, inhaling shakily, not quite sure whether he was actually about to throw up, or if it was just nerves. 

There it was. The Paradise Lounge. It stood as tall as it had done so long ago, and he supposes that wouldn't have changed. Sure, the sign was a little more worn, but ultimately everything felt the same, like stepping back in time. He'd spend a lot of time here, after all. 

"Crypto?" A voice asks, and an icy chill settled deep in his bones. He had abandoned that name a long time ago, burying his past and the memories that had went along with it, but he supposed that since he was here, it was only fair it all came crashing back, right? Eventually, he turns, and the sight he sees makes his jaw drop. "Holy shit… It's you." 

It was  _ him _ . Still as beautiful as the day he had last set eyes on him, and- No… That simply wasn't true. The years had been kinder to him, it seemed, and like fine wine he had aged perfectly, now an even sweeter assault on his senses than ever before; or perhaps he was just starting to remember how addicted he used to be. 

"Elliott…" 

He had grown out his hair, and his beard too. And he begins realise that every picture he had seen since leaving this life behind had been a cruel, lifeless imitation, so far from the warmth and beauty of the real deal, and he has to swallow to wet his dry throat. His curls looked fluffier than he remembered, eyes softer. Sure, he was beginning to grey at the temples, and lines framed the corners of his eyes, but he was still as perfect as he had always been in Crypto's eyes. Timeless. 

"Crypto…"

"You can say it." He urges, voice shaking almost as much as the rest of himself, and he begs for him to say it.

"Tae Joon…" It always sounded so perfect coming from those lips, like that was where his name had always belonged. "W-What are you doing here? I thought you never wanted to come back to Solace. I never…" 

_ Thought I'd see you again _ . 

"I didn't but…"  _ But things change _ . "I heard you still lived here." His answer gets him a laugh in return, and he drinks it in like a man starved of water. It was bittersweet, he knew the sound well, but still, after so long, he was an addict. 

"Still up to your shady ways, huh?" Elliott asks, softly, hands finding his pockets as he shuffles on his feet. "Yeah. You know I could never leave." He knew.

  
  


"Why don't you stop being such- such a stubborn idiot, Tae Joon?!" The voice rings out, hard and raw with emotion. "Why won't you fucking  _ listen to me?!" _

It was the third time this week this had happened. 

"Elliott-" he says, tone warning.

"No- You can leave! We can both leave! Nobody has to know where we go! I can find a place, I can take my mom, and we can-"

"ELLIOTT!" It sounds so loud in his own ears, and he flinches. He never liked yelling, there was enough of it in his own childhood for him to know that much. "I've told you before, it won't work. They'll find me. They'll kill you, and I'll lose everything again! Just get out, leave me alone!" 

"You don't think you're worth taking that chance for?!" The man yells back, voice hoarse and clipped in a way it should never be. 

"You don't get to decide that! Nobody does! I'm telling you again -  _ go. _ " 

He turns, as if to say the argument was over, but Elliott seemed to have other plans. He grips firmly, fingers digging into the muscle of Crypto's bicep, and before he can blink, a pain is radiating through his back, the wind knocked from his lungs. All at once, a terror comes to Crypto's eyes, and he steps away from where the man was caged against the wall, staring at his hands as if they were sullied. 

When he looks up again, there are tears trailing down those sharp cheekbones, and Elliott’s eyes are aflame.

"Fine." 

He barely hears the door slam through the numbness encroaching over his senses. 

  
  


It still haunted him. He had tried so hard not to lose the one good thing he had left in his life, and in a way, he had succeeded. Elliott was here. He was safe. 

"You look good." He can't help but say, mouth moving before his brain can catch up, and that earns him a half smile. 

"Yeah?" Elliott asks, looking down at his shoes for a moment, because he had never lost that shyness. "You too. I mean, the glasses, they uh, they suit you."

He can’t help but flush at that. He remembers he had always wanted to show Elliott what he had looked like before; but even now that simply wasn't possible. The metal was his skin, there was no reverting that. He would never truly be the same.

Crypto licks at his lips, trying hard to keep his breathing level, he opens his mouth to speak. There was so much he had to say.

"Elliott-"

"Daddy, daddy!" The cry of a child interrupts him before he can begin, and the second he lays eyes on the source, he knows there's no mistaking it. A little girl, no older than five, with curls just like Elliott’s comes running down the street, and stops by the ex-legends side. Crypto watches, shaken as Elliott kneels down to greet her, voice soft. 

" _ Hey, sweetie. _ " His hand pets at her head, and its then he notices the gold adorning Elliott’s finger. 

The man must be able to see his shock, because he stands, face set and firm even as his voice waivers.

"You told me to move on, Tae. You told me to be happy without you… And I did." He explains, and cold sweat begins to drip from his brow.  _ No _ . 

"You…" 

"I got married. Had kids, twins." Tae Joon recalls the time Elliott had told him, wrapped in his arms in their bed, that twins were genetically common in his family. (" _ My brothers were twins. _ " He had said, gently, and Tae had imagined perhaps having some of their own some day. A thought he had kept to himself.) "I got a third on the way… I'm a dad now… A husband." He hears the choking of Elliott’s throat that indicates its getting hard for him to speak, and he supposes that's fair, because he's having a hard time of his own trying to breathe at all. "And… It doesn't hurt anymore. It took years but… I'm doing what you told me. I'm happy."

He did look happy. He had what he had always dreamed of - a spouse, children, and no doubt a farm, with dogs, and hell, maybe he had that truck he had always talked about wanting too.

"You look happy." He replies hoarsely, and everything falls silent between them. Just like before.

He feels like he could throw up.

"I… I've got to go." He stutters, breathing hard and he can tell Elliott understands his meaning. He always was good at that.

"Maybe I'll see you around?" The man asks, and despite the wrenching in his chest, he smiles.

"Yeah."

They both know that won't happen.


End file.
